Who has control over land and why it matters: Land investments, land tenure, and global governance in sub-Saharan Africa

我的博士后奖学金项目“谁拥有对土地的控制权，为什么它很重要：撒哈拉以南非洲的土地投资，土地保有权和全球治理”探讨了撒哈拉以南非洲不同冲突后环境中全球，国家和地方各级的土地治理。它特别关注外国公司在土地收购过程中承认和保护当地人民和社区的土地权利，并询问这方面的全球治理机制。关于全球规范扩散和人权规范扩散的文献向我们介绍了国际和全球一级的进程、行为者和协定。但是，很少有具体证据表明，在大规模土地投资的情况下，这些规范是如何在国内和地方各级得到执行和“发挥作用”保护土地权利的。我的博士学位试图通过分析国内土地保有制度的作用来填补这一研究空白-这些制度规范了对土地的获取和控制。在大多数非洲国家，这些机构因地域而异，这意味着同一国家不同地区存在不同的土地规则。通过研究乌干达和塞拉利昂的17个大规模土地投资案例，我发现这些项目在援引全球规范方面存在很大差异。我认为，土地保有制度制约和塑造了负责任投资的全球行为守则获得牵引力的方式，并能够在大规模投资中保护地方土地权利。在这些研究结果的基础上，博士后研究金不仅巩固了这一博士学位，而且还进一步参与了有关以下问题的研究：（一）全球治理规范在保护不同商品部门土地权利方面的有用性和目的，（二）地方土地保有权制度的性质和变化及其与全球治理举措的相关性，三）“冲突后”环境对大规模外国土地投资和伴随的全球治理规范的潜在重要性，以及四）撒哈拉以南非洲地区更广泛的比较视角中的“土地问题”。作为博士后奖学金的一部分，我将在同行评审的期刊上发表四篇单独撰写的文章，并组织和促进冲突后土地治理的多方利益相关者研讨会。我还将在乌干达北方进行有限的进一步实地考察，并对古卢大学进行机构访问。在这次实地考察中收集的数据将用于巩固我的博士研究结果，并为两篇期刊文章提供信息。本项目力求具有比较性。为了加强在更广泛的非洲背景下的比较分析，我将把南非的观点纳入我关于土地治理和非洲土地政治的知识库。为此，我将对西开普大学的贫困、土地和农业研究所进行一次机构访问。

My postdoctoral fellowship project 'Who has control over land and why it matters: Land investments, land tenure and global governance in sub-Saharan Africa' explores land governance at global, national, and local levels in different post-conflict settings in sub-Saharan Africa. It is particularly concerned with the recognition and protection of the land rights of local people and communities in land acquisition processes by foreign companies and interrogates global governance mechanisms in this regard. Literature on global norms diffusion and human rights norms proliferation tells us a lot about the processes, actors and agreements at the international and global level. But there is very little concrete evidence of how such norms become implemented and 'work' to protect land rights at the domestic and local levels in cases of large-scale land investments. My PhD has attempted to fill this research gap by analysing the role of domestic land tenure regimes - institutions that regulate the access to and the control over land. These institutions vary across space in most African countries meaning that different rules around land exist in different regions within the same country. Studying 17 cases of large-scale land investments across Uganda and Sierra Leone, I saw strong variation in the way that global norms were invoked in these projects. I argued that land tenure regimes constrain and shape the ways in which global codes of conduct for responsible investments gain traction and are able to protect local land rights in large-scale investments. Building on these findings, the postdoctoral fellowship not only consolidates this PhD but also further engages with questions pertaining to i) the usefulness and purpose of global governance norms in protecting land rights in different commodity sectors, ii) the nature and variation of local land tenure regimes and their relevance for global governance initiatives, iii) the potential salience of the 'post-conflict' setting for both large-scale foreign land investments and accompanying global governance norms, and iv) the 'land question' in wider comparative perspective in sub-Saharan Africa. As part of the postdoctoral fellowship, I will deliver four single-authored articles in peer-reviewed journals as well as organise and facilitate a multi-stakeholder workshop on post-conflict land governance. I will also undertake a limited amount of further fieldwork in northern Uganda, combined with an institutional visit at Gulu University. The data collected during this fieldwork will be used to consolidate findings from my PhD and to inform two of the journal articles. This project seeks to be comparative in nature. To strengthen the comparative analysis in the wider African context, I will integrate perspectives from South Africa into my repertoire of knowledge on land governance and African land politics. To do so, I will undertake an institutional visit at the Institute for Poverty, Land, and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape.